P3 Pro 4K question video

Scott Reece · Oct 8, 2015

Hi peeps. Firsts post as a newbie,
1 month into a p3P and I love it but wondering on the best res to shoot to playback on non 4k devises. When I shoot in 4k I can view no probe on my iMac (albeit a bit of lag with sharp turns). What would you suggest to to shoot in to view on a non 4K tv. I do have a Matricom which has a 4K viewer app. Best to shoot in a lower frame 4K or move down to HD?

regards

Scott

tcope · Oct 8, 2015

If thought is put into this post than it does not make sense. If someone is not going to view in 4k, what resolution should be used? I'm going to vote for anything less than 4k. Just my opinion though.

Scott Reece · Oct 8, 2015

Thank you for the reply (even though sarcastic). As a newbie I would have appreciated a far less less undermining reply to a question that you may well (apparently) have the vast knowledge to.
Also, just so you are aware your reply should have read 'then it does not make sense' ..... just saying

bbfpv · Oct 8, 2015

Shoot in whatever quality the intended audience is able to view the footage in. Seems like in this case that would be 1080p.

flyinphantom · Oct 8, 2015

always shoot in 4k ...you can always convert it to 1080p if you need to

B- Scene Films · Oct 8, 2015

Most apps will scale 4K to 1080 and produce a better result than just shooting in 1080.

flyinphantom · Oct 8, 2015

B- Scene Films said:
Most apps will scale 4K to 1080 and produce a better result than just shooting in 1080.

EXACTLY !

Mako79 · Oct 8, 2015

B- Scene Films said:
Most apps will scale 4K to 1080 and produce a better result than just shooting in 1080.

Arguable... is 4K scaling down to 1080@30fps better than 1080@60fps? Aerial footage needs the extra fps, esp when panning with a rolling shutter camera.

B- Scene Films · Oct 8, 2015

Mako79 said:
Arguable... is 4K scaling down to 1080@30fps better than 1080@60fps? Aerial footage needs the extra fps, esp when panning with a rolling shutter camera.

My statement assumed an equal frame rate. Sorry for the confusion.

John Locke · Oct 9, 2015

flyinphantom said:
always shoot in 4k ...you can always convert it to 1080p if you need to

Why? Converting 4K takes time and uses too much memory in the card, a waste of space and time. Not to mention, the editing software for 4k often costs more and a computer that can adequately handle 4K editing generally costs much more. Shoot 1080 and try it out.

Bryce · Oct 9, 2015

It's like arguing brake pads on a track car... Everyone will have an opinion. You can always downscale.... Never the other way around. If I'm filming crap though.... It looks the same 320 or 5k.

pchin2 · Oct 9, 2015

Even after it's scaled down to 1080p, we won't really see any difference for a small screen size. We'll need lots of processing power & storage space for 4k not to mention the time taken for post processing.

1080p is more than sufficient for most folks.

PilotHarry · Oct 21, 2015

B- Scene Films said:
My statement assumed an equal frame rate. Sorry for the confusion.

4K is 30fps on a phantom, no?

B- Scene Films · Oct 21, 2015

PilotHarry said:
4K is 30fps on a phantom, no?

Video Resolutions and Frame Rates

DCI 4K (4096 x 2160): 24p, 25p
UHD 4K (3840 x 2160): 24p, 25p, 30p
1080p (1920 x 1080): 24p, 25p, 30p, 48p, 50p, 60p
720p (1280 x 720): 24p, 25p, 30p, 48p, 50p, 60p

JB-I · Oct 21, 2015

I have been dealing with this question since I've purchased my P3P over a month ago, 4K 24fps versus 1080p 60fps. I have shot a lot of 4K and have noticed the following:
1. Very difficult to yaw slow enough to get jitter free video. (have ruined a few good scenes because of it, and I've tried changing expo and gain settings)
2. More susceptible to get moire and alias(?) if the conditions are right. I usually shoot in manual settings, -2 -3 -2, @100 ISO with ND8 filter, but when panning from more sky to ground the exposure can change by 1-2 stops.
3. Some times even moving forward shows very slight choppy video.
4. In post processing, when original footage is 24fps, you can't slow the shot down without getting choppy. I.e. Less flexibility in editing. The only advantage is you can crop without loosing resolution.

Finally, I have a two year old iMac loaded with a i7 Quad-core, over clocked at 3.4Ghz, 3Tb Fusion drive, 16Gb ram and I still have problems with editing in Adobe Premiere Pro 2015 and have tried Resolve which was even worse!

So the question is, is shooting 4K worth it and all these potentially issues or should I just shoot in 1080p @24 or 60fps? When shooting at 1080p @60 fps all these issues go away. What is the real benefit of 4K 24fps from a functional standpoint?
What am I doing wrong, is it possible to get rock stable video in 4K 24fps?

B- Scene Films · Oct 21, 2015

You are doing nothing wrong. 4K, when scaled to 1080, tends to look better than native 1080 and you can re-frame to 1080 when using 4K since you have the larger frame.

The difference is not huge though. I always prefer 1080@60 for this device, however, for the benefits that you described. Smooth video...

My machine is much older than yours. So, to edit 4K (or really any highly compressed video such as h.264 and all my GoPro footage) I always transcode to ProRes, which is a codec designed for editing. It's super easy to work with.

JB-I · Oct 21, 2015

B- Scene Films said:
You are doing nothing wrong. 4K, when scaled to 1080, tends to look better than native 1080 and you can re-frame to 1080 when using 4K since you have the larger frame.

The difference is not huge though. I always prefer 1080@60 for this device, however, for the benefits that you described. Smooth video...

My machine is much older than yours. So, to edit 4K (or really any highly compressed video such as h.264 and all my GoPro footage) I always transcode to ProRes, which is a codec designed for editing. It's super easy to work with.

What program do you you use to transcode to ProRes? Do you do this first and then bring it into Premiere Pro for editing? If uploading the final product to YouTube or Vimeo for sharing do you save the final output as 24fps and what file format?

Cerone · Oct 21, 2015

JB-I said:
What program do you you use to transcode to ProRes? Do you do this first and then bring it into Premiere Pro for editing? If uploading the final product to YouTube or Vimeo for sharing do you save the final output as 24fps and what file format?

Apple compressor

B- Scene Films · Oct 21, 2015

I transcode it with Compressor but you could use Adobe Media Encoder, Resolve or MPEGStreamclip. For final output, if it's intended for Youtube or Vimeo, I just use the Premiere CC 2015 presets for those platforms.